Today I’m continuing my quest to add killer undead to the options already available in the fifth edition Monster Manual for my world of Enora. Today we enter the world of undead plants! (You read that right). You might say, “Whoa, James. Plants that are evil and dead? C’mon.” To that I’d say, “Of course, dear reader. Haven’t you ever seen Evil Dead? The most terrifying scene involves trees (that are presumably both evil and dead).”

It is with great pleasure that I now show off vampiric vines.

Vampiric Vine

Vampiric vines are sentient clusters of black thorned vines that thirst for the blood of the living. When a plant dies as the result of necrotic magic and its seeds are scatter on desecrated ground, these vines grow forth and eventually uproot themselves and crawl out into the night in search of a drink.

Nocturnal Hunters. During the day, a tangle of vampiric vines stays in the desecrated dirt from which it sprung forth. At night, the undead plant crawls forth, looking for unsuspecting creatures and an easy meal before returning home. The vines leave the bodies of their drained victims behind, sometimes causing panic that a den of vampires is nearby, attacking the land at night.

Hidden in Plain Sight. Vampiric vines appear to be normal dead brush when at rest. If a victim wanders into a lair, the vine waits until it is within striking distance and then pounces.

Save Snacks for Later. Vampiric vines are surprisingly strong, and will sometimes drain enough blood from a victim to drop it unconscious and then drag the prey back to its lair for more feeding later. Sometimes vampiric vines will feed off a victim for days before drinking enough blood to kill it.

Want the Stats?

Get them in the PDF below or grab them anytime on the Free Game Resources page. These stats are in playtest mode, so I’d love any feedback you have for me!

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In the last two weeks, I showed off some new undead (skeletal dragons and husks), to help fill the undead Challenge Rating gaps in the fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual for my world of Enora. Today I’m continuing the parade of new undead with vampire dragons!

Vampiric Dragon

Vampiric dragons are the unfathomable result of dragons undergoing transitions to become potent, blood-sucking undead. Of the few such terrors that exist, most underwent the transition willingly. There are many reasons for a dragon to become a vampire, fear of death and increased power chief among them.

Vampiric Qualities. Like humanoid vampires, vampiric dragons do not cast shadows or reflections and have a thirst for blood. In their normal state, they are generally undistinguishable from their dragon counterparts who are not undead. Unlike normal vampires, vampiric dragons do not need to be invited to enter a residence and have nothing to fear from running water.

Feed and Slumber. When vampiric dragons feed, they can ravage miles of countryside or an entire city in a single night. Their thirst for blood is nigh insatiable, and a vampiric dragon can devastate an entire province before it slumbers, creating armies of vampire spawn to guard its lair.

Relief comes when the dragon decides to rest. Finally satiated, the beast enters a long slumber of one-hundred years before it wakes to feed again.

Undead Nature.Vampiric dragons do not require air. Since they have nothing to fear from running water and no need to breathe, many make their lairs deep in bodies of water.

Want the Template and as Sample Vampiric Dragon?

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A few weeks ago I made the case for needing more high challenge rating aberrations than the ones in the Monster Manual for my soon-to-be-published Exploration Age campaign setting. There’s only 19 total aberration stat blocks in the book, and the highest CR is 14 (beholder in lair), so you might want some more aberrations for your world too! That’s why I’m sharing them on this blog.

In that post I showed off the Lovecraft-inspired moonbeast. Then in a later post I presented my hound of Tindalos. In this post I’m showing off my fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons version of the gug!

Gug

Gugs are fur-covered, vertically mouthed, bug-eyed, spindly limbed giants. These horrifying creatures are constantly hungry and able to fit in almost any space. The aberrations stalk deep underground tunnels for unsuspecting prey.

Driven by Hunger. The gugs’ strange metabolism means the beast is always hungry. As such these alien monsters eat anything that has flesh – living or undead. They will even eat another gug if starving, but the creatures are civilized and only resort to such actions when desperate.

Smart Stalkers. Gugs’ hunger keeps them on the prowl, making them dangerous hunters. Practiced gugs surprise their prey by using their odd, flexible anatomies to drop from impossibly high cave ceilings and leaping out of tiny crevasses. Gugs are used to feeling hungry, so they are patient when hunting, waiting for days clinging to a wall or shoved into a crack.

Cities of Gugs. Gugs live together in the deepest underground caverns in enormous cities of massive towers. A single king or queen has absolute control over the lives of all the other gugs in the city. When the gugs return to the city after a hunt, they must bring a portion of each kill to the monarch.

Amorphous. The gug can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Fall Damage Immunity. The gug can fall any distance and does not take fall damage.

Horrifying Visage. Creatures who start their turns within 30 feet of the gug and can see the creature must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of the gug for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to the gug’s Horrifying Visage for the next 24 hours.

Magic Resistance. The gug has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The gug’s weapon attacks are magical.

Spider Climb. The gug can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Actions

Multiattack.The gug can make five attacks: four with its claws, and one attack with its bite or swallow.

Bite.Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 24 (3d10 + 8) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 20). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the gug can’t bite another target.

Swallow. The gug makes one bite attack against a Medium or smaller target it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target is swallowed and the grapple ends. The swallowed target is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the gug. A swallowed creature takes 35 (10d6) acid damage at the start of its turn. If a swallowed creature dies as a result of taking acid damage from this ability, the gug regains 50 hit points.

If the gug takes 50 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the gug must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the gug. If the gug dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse using 15 feet of movement, exiting prone.

PDF

Would you like this Lovecraftian beastie to threaten your players’ characters? Grab it now in its own PDF or alongside a lot of Exploration Age’s monsters! Like the icebreaker shark, gaping maw, morchia, and mystauk.

Playtest it up!

Now I ask you my readers to please go forth and test this nasty. Throw it at your players and see how they fare! If you have any feedback for my monster please leave it in the comments below or email me (james.introcaso@gmail.com). If you tell me your name and the names of your players I’ll give you credit as playtesters in the Exploration Age Campaign Guide!

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Take a look and if you wish download for free. This is material I pledged when I created would always be available for free and I plan to stick to that promise. I’m always open to feedback, so leave me a comment, start a discussion on a product page, or leave me a review. Honestly at this point in my RPG career a free download with a good review are worth far more to me than cash.

If you like what you’re reading please follow me on Twitter, check out my podcasts, find my products on the DMs Guild, tell your friends about the blog, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

It all started a few weeks ago when I had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing Wolfgang Baur, Kobold in Chief at Kobold Press, for The Round Tablepodcast about his Kickstarter for the Tome of Beasts and Book of Lairs. (Which you should absolutely checkout if you haven’t already because we’re talking over 300 new monsters for fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons plus a bunch of dungeons, digital maps and tokens ready for print-out and virtual tables, and a heck of a lot more.) We were discussing the various backer rewards and the highest tier allows a backer to name an entirely new monster and Kobold Press will stat that bad boy, put it in the Tome, and give it a home in the Book. I jokingly suggested to Wolfgang he might have to publish a book with a Giant Ice Cream Bunny if the right (or wrong depending on your perspective) person had the cash to throw at him. He laughed at the idea nervously and implied he hoped no one would take that suggestion seriously. Then we moved on and talked of alseid, eye golems, and bouda.

A week later the interview went live and I soon found myself withan amazing, life-altering series of direct messages on Twitter from that beautiful genius Dave Gibson (who is a frequent guest on The Round Table himself).

That link he sent contains the art Dave created pictured below.

This challenge could not be ignored! Look at that thing. If you’re not terrified, then you’re more machine than human. So it is with Dave’s blessing and encouragement I introduce to you the giant ice cream bunny.

Giant Ice Cream Bunny

Few have been to the elemental Plane of Sweets. Even fewer have been to the plane’s Arctic Ice Cream Wastes. Fewer still have met one of the waste’s nightmarish hunters and lived to tell the tale.

Of course an adventurer need not travel across the planes to find a giant ice cream bunny. Conjuration spells meant to call friendly-by-comparison air, earth, fire, and water elementals sometimes go awry and connect to the Plane of Sweets, bringing forth unimaginable horror from a land so tasty.

Sweet on the Outside, Death on the Inside. When they’re laying in the wastes, ice cream bunnies blend in with the background, appearing to be another enormous pile of scooped confection. Yet when that frozen delight moves to form a 15-foot tall, two-ton, sprinkle-breathing, elemental rabbit with an angry cherry bomb atop its head, many soon learn the Ice Cream Wastes are not as delicious an adventure location as they seem.

Cold Fury. Giant ice cream bunnies despise other living creatures, particularly humanoids who are known to delight themselves by consuming frozen diary treats. The giant ice cream bunnies see killing and devouring humanoids as a kind of cosmic revenge that’s hardwired into their nature. Savage and unforgiving, the bunnies do not flee from battle and fight with every dying breath. They want to see all non-ice cream life devoured by ice cream.

Available in a Variety of Flavors. Giant ice cream bunnies come in various colors which reflect the flavor of their ice cream bodies and sometimes a single bunny is made a of variety of these flavors. All are equally deadly whether made up of pure vanilla bean or death by chocolate.

Deliciously Cold. Whenever the bunny is hit by an attack or fails a saving throw that deals cold damage, it heals for the number of cold damage points dealt by the effect.

Ice Cream Headache. Whenever the bunny scores a critical hit with a melee attack, the target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving or become paralyzed until the end of the ice cream bunny’s next turn.

Breath Weapons (Recharge 5-6). The bunny uses one of the following breath weapons.

Hot Fudge Breath. The bunny exhales scalding hot fudge in a 60-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in that line must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, taking 54 (12d8) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Sprinkle Breath. The bunny exhales exploding rainbow sprinkles in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or become blinded for 1 minute. A creature who failed its saving throw can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the blinded condition on a success.

Cherry Bomb. The bunny hurls the cherry atop its head up to 150 feet and it explodes in a 20-foot-radius sphere. Creatures in the area must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. Creatures who fail take 35 (10d6) cold damage and are stunned for 1 minute. Creatures who succeed take half damage and are not stunned. A creature who is stunned in this way can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the stunned condition on a success. The bunny cannot use this ability again until it completes a long rest.

PDF

Would you like to have this ridiculous and horrifying monster in a PDF? Grab it below by itself or alongside the other monsters I’ve created on this blog.

If you like what you’re reading, please check out my podcasts on The Tome Show, follow me on Twitter, tell your friends and share this blog post, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Halloween season is now in full gear. The costume shops are open, the bags of candy line the store shelves, and the RPG blog community is exploding with great posts about Halloween creepy crawlies and other nasty DM delights. This month’s RPG Blog Carnival theme is “What Walks Into Town?” from Scot Newbury over at Of Dice and Dragons. Great theme! He hosted the blog last October and inspired me to create a whole month of blog posts’ worth of monsters. Scot does Halloween right.

I’ve been playing fifth edition with my group for a little over a year now and they’re now within the upper level echelons of the game. I find myself flipping through the Monster Manual in search of worthy high level challenges and I often come up short. Yes I could throw 50 orcs simultaneously at my players thanks to bounded accuracy, but that’s fun for my group exactly one time per campaign. After that single time it becomes a tedious, time-sucking grind. I’ve decided this theme will be a good excuse for me to create some higher level horrors to keep my PCs on their toes.

Now what should I create? What higher level monsters do I need? What fits this theme and this holiday? What terrifies me beyond recognition? Giant arachnids.

Yes I’m an arachnophobe. I don’t mind tiny spiders and scorpions so much, but when they get bigger than my ham fists, that’s when I bust out in the cold sweat of terror (and yes I’m aware that the small ones can be more deadly). I have trouble looking at my large spider miniatures without shuddering. That’s why I love to use them in my game. Like a twisted DM version of Batman I paraphrase, it’s time my players shared my fear.

I remember the third edition Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual had a spider and scorpion for every available creature size. I think fifth edition D&D needs their arachnids to grow beyond size Large and into Huge and, yes, Gargantuan beasts. So what’s walking into town? A big ass spider.

From the apparently movie Big Ass Spider!

Monstrous Vermin

Most seasoned adventurers know there are spiders and scorpions as large as horses, but many would be horrified to learn some grow as large as houses or even as large as the tarrasque itself.

In the underdark, dense forests, and vast deserts of the world, certain breeds of arachnid have be able to grow to enormous proportions. These nocturnal terrors must survive many years in harsh environments to grow so large and those years provide experience and cunning which only make the beasts more dangerous. Their enormity means they pursue much larger prey than normal-sized vermin. Most humanoids are the perfect-sized meal for these creatures. When they are desperate for food, monstrous spiders and scorpions have been known to wander the outskirts of settlements at night to drag off a meal.

If you like what you’re reading, please check out my podcasts on The Tome Show, follow me on Twitter, tell your friends and share this blog post, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Before I get to today’s blog post, if you’re at Gen Con so am I! If you listen to the Round Table or The Tome Show‘s D&D V&G podcast then you’ll also know my good friend and Gen Con bud, Rudy Basso. We’ll be tweeting pictures of ourselves so follow us there to say hey or come hang with us on tomorrow (Friday) at 8:30PM when we’ll be at Tavern on South. It’s a block from the convention center and we’ll be joined by Tome Show hosts and regulars like Jeff Greiner and Mike Shea and more. Maybe even Tracy Hurley will be there, which would be awesome because she is awesome.

Ok! Onto today’s post.

Meet the Lycans

If you’ve been following the blog for at least a week or so you know that I recently wrote about my love of tiny dungeons. Now I’m building a tiny dungeon one post at a time on this blog. Check out the first post in The Wererat Den series to get the background, synopsis, and hooks for the adventure along with a table of random forest encounters characters might experience on their way to the dungeon.

Before we get to the meat of the dungeon I’d like to show off the new wereboars, wererats, and werewolves that player characters will face during the small crawl.

Wereboar, Halfling Berserker

Small humanoid (halfling, shapechanger), neutral evil

Armor Class 14 in humanoid form (hide), 13 in boar form (natural), 15 in hybrid form (hide and natural)

Polymorph. The wereboar can use its action to polymorph into a boar-humanoid hybrid or into a boar, or back into its true form which is humanoid. Its statistics, other than its AC and speed, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Brave. The wereboar has advantage on all saving throws against being frightened.

Charge (Boar or Hybrid Form Only). If the wereboar moves at least 15 feet straight towards a target and then hits it with its tusks on the same turn, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Lucky.When the wereboar rolls a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, it can reroll the die and must use the new roll.

Reckless. At the start of its turn, the wereboar can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn.

Relentless (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). If the wereboar takes 14 damage or less that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it is reduced to 1 hit point instead.

Stout Resilience. The wereboar has advantage on saving throws against poison.

Actions

Multiattack (Halfling or Hybrid Form Only). The wereboar makes two attacks, only one of which can be with its tusks.

Tusks (Boar or Hybrid Form Only).Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with wereboar lycanthropy.

Polymorph. The wererat can use its action to polymorph into a rat-humanoid hybrid or into a giant rat, or back into its true form which is humanoid. Its statistics, other than its size and speed, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Fey Ancestry. The wererat has advantage on saving throws against being charmed and magic cannot put it to sleep.

Keen Smell. The wererat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Mask of the Wild. The wererat can attempt to hide even when it is only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

Actions

Multiattack (Elf or Hybrid Form Only). The wererat makes two attacks, only one of which can be a bite.

Bite (Rat or Hybrid Form Only).Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with wererat lycanthropy.

Polymorph. The wererat can use its action to polymorph into a rat-humanoid hybrid or into a giant rat, or back into its true form which is humanoid. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Fey Ancestry. The wererat has advantage on saving throws against being charmed and magic cannot put it to sleep.

Keen Smell. The wererat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Spellcasting (Elf and Hybrid Form Only). The mage is a 9th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The mage has the following wizard spell prepared:

Actions

Multiattack (Elf or Hybrid Form Only). The wererat makes two attacks, only one of which can be a bite.

Bite (Rat or Hybrid Form Only).Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with wererat lycanthropy.

Polymorph. The wererat can use its action to polymorph into a rat-humanoid hybrid or into a giant rat, or back into its true form which is humanoid. Its statistics, other than its speed, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Brave. The wererat has advantage on all saving throws against being frightened.

Keen Smell. The wererat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Lucky.When the wererat rolls a 1 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, it can reroll the die and must use the new roll.

Stout Resilience. The wererat has advantage on saving throws against poison.

Actions

Multiattack (Halfling or Hybrid Form Only). The wererat makes two attacks, only one of which can be a bite.

Bite (Rat or Hybrid Form Only).Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with wererat lycanthropy.

Polymorph. The werewolf can use its action to polymorph into a wolf-humanoid hybrid or into a wolf, or back into its true form which is humanoid. Its statistics, other than its AC, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Fey Ancestry. The werewolf has advantage on saving throws against being charmed and magic cannot put it to sleep.

Keen Hearing and Smell. The werewolf has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Mask of the Wild. The werewolf can attempt to hide even when it is only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

Actions

Multiattack (Elf or Hybrid Form Only). The werewolf makes two attacks, only one of which can be a bite.

Bite (Wolf or Hybrid Form Only).Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werewolf lycanthropy.

PDFs

It’d be cool if you had all these lycanthropes in a PDF to take with you to your game. Well I’m a pretty cool guy so I made it happen! Click on the links below to grab just the monsters in this post or grab them with every other fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons monster I’ve created.

If you like what you’re reading, please check out my podcasts on The Tome Show, follow me on Twitter, tell your friends and share this blog post, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

I’ve been doing a lot of updates on this blog of late and today the trend continues. Last year I wrote about new mounts available in an Exploration Age campaign. These rules were based on the information in the final D&D Next playtest packet. Today I present updated rules for mounts that flow better with the official fifth edition Dungeons and Dragons rules and statistics for the Exploration Age mounts. Take a look at the excerpt from the upcoming Exploration Age Campaign Guide below. (For the record, I thought of giant goats as mounts before The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was released.)

Mounts

Canus is home to some bizarre and wonderful animals that serve as mounts. Many can cross certain types of difficult terrain at normal speed. The table below indicates which types of difficult terrain specific mounts can ignore. These are common mounts for sale, other fantastic mounts might be found and trained at the DM’s discretion. Descriptions are provided for the mounts which require them.

Mount

Speed

Ignored Difficult Terrain(s)

Price

Bison

40 ft.

Forest

100 gp

Dog Sled and Team

40 ft.

Snowfields, Frozen Ocean

400 gp

Giant Goat

40 ft.

Mountains

75 gp

Giant Lizard

30 ft., climb 30ft.

Swamp, Marsh, Jungle

75 gp

Ornithopter

0 ft., fly 60 ft.

See notes

20,000 gp

Ostrich

70 ft.

None

150 gp

Reindeer

50 ft.

Snowfields, Mountains, Frozen Ocean

150 gp

Riding Deer

50 ft.

Forest

150 gp

Riding Turtle

10 ft., swim 50 ft.

Swamp, Marsh

200 gp

Water Buffalo

40 ft.

Swamp, Marsh, Jungle

150 gp

Yak

40 ft.

Snowfields, Mountains

100 gp

Dogsled and Team. A team of 8 dogs comes with a sled, ready to pull a rider and gear across the frozen landscapes of Canus.

Mountain Ram. Huge goats large enough to hold a man were first trained by the Bragonian dwarves. Now they are the preferred method of travel for all who traverse mountainous peaks.

Ornithopter.This is a special one-person flying machine created by Bragonay’s artisans for reconnaissance and solo travel. Its bird-shape has huge flapping wings which allow for lift and propulsion. These wings are powered by the rider through foot pedals. An ornithopter can glide great distances.

Riding Deer. These over-sized white-tailed deer were first bred by elves to be large enough to hold a rider. They spring through wooded forests and hills with ease.

Riding Turtle. These enormous, freshwater turtles are large enough to hold one rider comfortably on the shell. The turtles are trained to swim on the surface, since most of their riders cannot breathe underwater, however, they can be commanded to dive and surface. Turtles like this are often used in lieu of boats when traveling on lakes and rivers.

Trampling Charge. If the bison moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a hooves attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the bison can make another attack with its hooves against it as a bonus action.

Trampling Charge. If the ostrich moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a talons attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the ostrich can make another attack with its talons against it as a bonus action.

Actions

Reindeer

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 10

Hit Points 30 (4d10 + 8)

Speed 50 ft.

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

18 (+4)

10 (+0)

14 (+2)

2 (-4)

10 (+0)

6 (-2)

Senses passive perception 10

Languages –

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Charge. If the reindeer moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and the hits it with a ram attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw of be knocked prone.

Actions

Riding Deer

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 14

Hit Points 19 (3d10 + 3)

Speed 50 ft.

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

14 (+2)

18 (+4)

12 (+1)

2 (-4)

14 (+2)

6 (-2)

Senses passive perception 12

Languages –

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Charge. If the deer moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and the hits it with a ram attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw of be knocked prone.

Charge. If the buffalo moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and the hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw of be knocked prone.

Charge. If the yak moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and the hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw of be knocked prone.

Let’s PDF It Up!

If you like what you’re reading, please check out my podcasts on The Tome Show, follow me on Twitter, tell your friends and share this blog post, and/or leave me a comment and let me know you think. Thanks!

Few disasters work as quickly and devastatingly as a tornado. The terror of these catastrophes can be seen in movies like Twister and The Wizard of Oz, but the true horror is even worse as seen in real life articles and news reels. When it comes to disasters, tornadoes strike fast and without warning. The same happens when a tornado dragon rolls through town. It isn’t looking to chat or for treasure. It’s looking to kill.

Quick Recap

If you haven’t been following the blog, I’ve been busy converting the fourth edition D&D catastrophic dragons to fifth edition mechanics. So far I’ve done the typhoon, blizzard, earthquake, and volcanic dragons. I’m hoping to get feedback on these baddies from you all and then I’ll add them to the Free Game Resources section of this site. Anyway here’s my story for catastrophic dragons in fifth edition, pulled from earlier posts.

Catastrophic dragons were once chromatic dragons who desired more than a hoard and a lair. For while others stole and hid from the humanoids over whom they claimed superiority, these dragons knew that all other life in the multiverse should be bowing to their will. Power is a far greater reward than any material possession and as the smartest and strongest in the land, dragons deserved to be in charge. Any thought other than this was impractical and stupid. These dragons tried to convince their brethren to leave their caves and make the humanoids submit to their will.

The other chromatic dragons did not like this sudden interest in the affairs of lesser beings and so with greater numbers they did come together. They banished their radical kin to the elemental planes. For hundreds of years these rebellious chromatic dragons were locked in seas of fire, ice, wind, and stone. Those who did not die were shaped by elemental forces and remade into catastrophic dragons.

Each trapped catastrophic dragon has its imprisonment tied to the soul of a chromatic dragon on the material plane. If one of these gatekeeper chromatic dragon should die before it can pass the responsibility onto another, the catastrophic dragon can leave the plane of its imprisonment and wreak havoc on the world.

Catastrophic dragons once wanted to dominate all life in the multiverse. After years of suffering the harsh terrain of the elemental planes, their minds are warped and they desire only to kill all those inferior to them, especially chromatic dragons whom they hate above all others.Their memories are long and catastrophic dragons do not forget their betrayal at the hands of their kin. If they escape their bonds, they may keep a hoard, but usually only for the purpose of attracting other dragons and killing them.

Tornado Dragons

A solid mass of tearing, howling wind creates the body of the tornado dragon. Its form is constantly moving, and the dragon itself can barely sit still. If one comes across a calm tornado dragon, be wary indeed! For surely their rage is approaching a boiling point which cannot be contained.

Restless Rage.Tornado dragons are constantly on the move in search of something new to destroy. Being idle gives them time to reflect on their pain and suffering in the elemental planes, and they distract themselves with their labor of devastating all life. Tornado dragons use every ounce of energy they have wreaking havoc on the world and then retire to their lairs for long periods of time to rebuild their energy and heal their wounds. During these rests, the rage boils in tornado dragons’ hearts and it is only a matter of time before they explode forth, eager to ravage the land once again.

Angry Liberators. More so than any other catastrophic dragon tornado dragons are driven to find gatekeeper chromatic dragons and slay them to free their catastrophic brothers. Often while resting they perform divination rituals to find the closest gatekeeper chromatic dragons. These rituals determine which direction their next swath of destruction will travel.

A Tornado Dragon’s Lair

Tornado dragons prefer to be outside wreaking havoc and destruction as often as possible but they do claim lairs as sanctuaries where they can rest and heal. Usually a tornado dragon’s lair is great ruined structure, possibly destroyed by the dragon itself. Pyramids, arenas, castles, and palaces are the kind of enormous ruin a tornado dragon might claim. They prefer structures on wide open flat planes. The ruins are concealed with illusion magic, and guarded by elemental creatures.

The inside of a tornado dragon’s lair is littered with all manner of magic and mechanical alarms which can alert the dragon to an intruder’s presence. If the dragon is inclined, it will seek out the intruder itself to fight in the halls, or it may trigger one of its devious traps, which often involve the collapsing of a room, or the entire floor of a structure.

When the dragon does face foes in its lair, it prefers to confront them in an area with plenty of space, to make the most of its catastrophic aura. These open spaces often have flimsy barriers, made to look sturdy. Intruders may hide behind these barriers, thinking themselves safe right before the dragon’s wind rips it apart exposing them.

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